Illegal gold and wood extractors take advantage of the coronavirus quarantine in the Brazilian Amazon

Illegal gold and wood extractors take advantage of the quarantine of the indigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon, and the government dismisses an official responsible for environmental protection.

In Brazil, the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus is registered in indigenous communities. So far 24 suspected cases, 9 confirmed cases and 5 deaths, three of them resided on indigenous land and the other two were living in the city, according to figures from the Ministry of Indigenous Health (Sesai).

«Most of the indigenous populations are in the North, Center and Northeast of the country, where health services are more precarious.»

The Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) denounces that indigenous peoples are at risk because public hospitals lack resources and because of rural conflicts over land invasion.

«Throughout history, we have been victims of successive invaders, not only because they use physical violence, firearms or forced labor, but also because of the diseases that they have transmitted and transmit to us, such as the flu, smallpox and measles ”indicated the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil

This Tuesday, April 14, the director of Environmental Protection of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama), Olivaldi Azevedo, was dismissed by the Minister of Environment of Brazil, Ricardo Salles, after ordering a mega operation against informal mining on indigenous lands of the state of Pará (north).

También hay buenas noticias en Semana Santa: El ente de fiscalización ambiental IBAMA incendió esa excavadora de mineros ilegales encontrada en la tierra indígena Apyterewa, en São Felix do Xingu – Pará. Qué empresa llevó esa máquina hasta ahí?

Más información > @fiscaldoibama pic.twitter.com/MxgiRRgp2K

— Nacho Lemus (@LemusteleSUR) April 13, 2020

The removal of the Azevedo was published in the Official Journal of the Union. The details of the dismissal and who will be the new person in charge of prosecuting environmental crimes are still unknown.

Azevedo ordered the removal of loggers and garimpeiros (illegal miners) from indigenous lands in the northern state of Pará. The operation aimed to protect communities native to Covid-19, says the former official.

In this operation, the Ibama inspectors set fire to the structures of the garimpos and the machines used for the illegal extraction of minerals.

Source: RT, Telesur